Category: Channing Tatum Film Festival

I go into Channing Tatum movies with no expectation because sometimes he is very good and sometimes he gets all clenchy-jaw-declaiming-lines type acting.*  I’m happy to report that this falls into the very good category not just for CT’s acting, but for a very well-plotted action movie.  It was incredibly fun to see how the story kept the characters in the White House the entire time, plus the rest of the cast was quite fun too.**

Cost:  $7.00
Where watched:  Living Room Theaters (which seemed odd, they are very art house/foreign/independent.)

*He’s been much better, of late, but Side Effects was a return to his bad acting of yore.
**Maggie Gyllenhaal was a complete bonus, Herc from Friday Night Lights was one of the terrorists, I love that computer guy whenever I see him and Richard Jenkins is always a welcome sight.

I went to see this because it’s the newest Channing Tatum flick and if Mr. CT is in a movie, go I must.  I do not wish to do any plot spoiling here, but let me tell you that there is a reason he’s kind of small on the movie poster, and that reason was rather disappointing to me.  However, I rallied, and instead focused my keen critic eye on the actress who played Tyra on Friday Night Lights.

Cost: $4.00 (now the only way to see a movie for less than $4.00 is to go to the Kennedy School where they charge $3.00 and where I usually end up ordering wine so the cost isn’t $3.00 at all.)
Where watched:  Jubitz Cinema.  It was me and a room full of truckers who, to my delight, had their usual pre-movie conversation where they don’t know each other, stare straight ahead, never making eye contact and they talk about all matter of things.

This is my favorite Channing Tatum movie, as well as a very good movie in general and here is why.  I like that no one is the hero, no one is the villain,  no one person in the relationship is more right than the other person.  It’s probably the most true portrayal of a relationship I’ve seen on screen.

Care to quibble?  Use the comment section.

The poster, however, is hideous.

Poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2012/vow.html

This movie was chock full of great acting by Rooney Mara and Jude Law* and a twisty, turn-y plot that I advise you to do your best not to discover any part of before you enter the theater.  Immediately after the movie I wasn’t quite sure how I felt due to the many plot twists, but after lively discussion with the movie-going companion of the day, I decided I liked it.  I don’t really want to think that Mr. Soderbergh will

really

 stop making movies, but if so, this was a good one to end with.

Where watched:  Regal City Center Stadium 12

Cost:  Free, thanks to the generous folks at Pike Schemes.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2013/side_effects_ver2.html

*sadly, Mr. Tatum’s performance was awful due to massive amounts of jaw-clenching (he’s regressed, just when he was doing so well) and declaim-off-of-cue-cards-type acting.  Catherine Zeta-Jones was also painful to watch.  That said, this was still a good movie.

If your friends are visiting from out of town and your aren’t sure what to do, perhaps this movie will fit the bill.  It was my fourth outing (since the end of July) with Mr. Magic Mike and I can say I still found the movie full of its enjoyable self, dark sad strippers notwithstanding.  If you’ve seen it, already you will know when to watch your friends’ reaction when the penis pump appears in the left-hand corner of the screen.

poster from:  http://www.impawards.com/2012/magic_mike_ver8.html

(I’m starting to run out of posters)

I’ve discovered that one thing Channing Tatum can’t do is grow decent facial hair as the mustache he wore through this movie was just incredibly ridiculous and I’m not sure why it was even necessary.  This movie is full of good acting, but alas, the plot is awful and that nullifies anything the actors might do.  And while I am usually annoyed when female characters are not developed, to the detriment of the movie (Ahem,

Crazy Heart

) I get absolutely incensed when the female characters are whisked on and off the screen once and then to neatly tie up the plot at the end, as happened with this movie.

poster from: 

http://www.impawards.com/2011/son_of_no_one.html

This passed the vital “still good on the third viewing?” test with flying colors and Matt liked it too.  So now there are two more reasons why this movie is better than you think it is.* Sadly, the DVD is pretty much devoid of extras.**

poster from: 

http://www.impawards.com/2012/magic_mike_ver4.html

*See

previous

reviews

that will tell you it’s not the movie you think it is, either.

**I was hoping for a director’s commentary. And more dancing, as I heard each character did two individual dances for the film. But no.  Just a 6 minute feature. LAME!

I’ve

seen this before

, so this time was ready for the rather feral nature of the youth in question.  However, this  time I was watching it for the Channing Tatum perspective* and it was quite enjoyable.  He does feral and angry quite well, which is interesting because he is not very much of either of those things in any other movie.

Cost:  free from library

Where watched:  at home

poster from: 

http://www.impawards.com/2006/guide_to_recognizing_your_saints.html

*My favorite excerpt of a review on Rotten Tomatoes: “The real star is Channing Tatum as the alpha-chimp leader of Dito’s pack. The camera doesn’t just love him, it wants to marry him, settle down, and have his babies.”  So true, Stuart McGurk of thelondonpaper, so true.

This movie was so familiar that I couldn’t decide if I had seen it before or if it had so many elements of a classic sports movie that it seemed like I had seen it.  It was good, though, and I’m all for high expectations for student athletes.  It also featured a young Channing Tatum, which was delightful too.

Cost:  free from library (though quite a lengthy wait of about two months)

Where watched: at home.

poster from: 

http://www.impawards.com/2005/coach_carter.html